In dialogue with the other: best cross-cultural practices of refugee integration Erasmus Project

Project Title

In dialogue with the other: best cross-cultural practices of refugee integration

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Integration of refugees; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

CONTEXT/BACKGROUNDThe project was born after a careful analysis of the changes in nowadays society due to the current humanitarian crisis and the displacement of millions of people fleeing from their countries in search of better life conditions. This analysis was supported by numerous sources at European and global level, such as the UNHCR and IOM, the Common Agenda for Integration, among others.

The project aimed to collect good practices from partners from different EU countries, especially those at the forefront in this humanitarian crisis: Italy, Turkey as countries of first arrival and Germany, UK and Sweden as countries that most of the refugees see as their final destination; and Spain, a country that officially accepts to take refugees, but is experiencing a standstill caused by Government inaction, to the point that a few autonomous regions urged the government to take action.

OBJECTIVES- to share best practices between organizations in Europe dealing refugees/migrants within hosting communities;
– to point out possible issues which could arise in the local communities experiencing the growing amount of refugees and elaborate possible measures to deal with them;
– to develop suggestions for local and educational authorities for the possible measures to prevent conflicts, xenophobia,radicalization and marginalization;
– training key figures working with refugees in intercultural learning and stimulate them to develop and adopt new techniques for the inclusion of migrants;
– promoting pedagogical approaches in dealing with challenges and opportunities in multicultural and pluralistic societies and empowering participants to work on reflective competences and tools for social change
– Providing digital and media competencies to the participants on the use social media to strengthen the voice, participation and representation of migrants in the social media and at policy making level
– Pointing out good and bad practices in the use of social media-
Promoting the importance of EU values, democracy and employability
– Building bridges between schools, local communities and authorities
– Case study of Riace a small village in Southern Italy that has been abandoned by most of the local population and has been repopulated thanks to over 6000 refugees that its Mayor has helped to settle there offering them Riace’s abandoned apartments along with job training. His model is being studied and adopted as Europe’s refugee crisis crests

PARTICIPANTS- People participating in an international training were 4 people selected by each participating organisation, according to the partners’ expertise. Spain and Turkey brought educators and leading staff; UK, Germany and Sweden brought community workers and former refugees, Italy involved community workers and volunteers from partner organisations, local authorities and educators.
– 10 organisations for each country including schools, charities, NGOs, local authorities through project participants and the direct use of the toolkit
by counselors, former refugees, teachers and trainers, use of the social media pages, around 1200 migrants/refugees

ACTIVITIES- Creation of the web site and social media profile of the project
– Creation of a toolkit for educators, former refugees, local authorities, community workers and volunteers
– International training activity in Italy
– National workshops with local refugee centres and local authorities in each partner country.
– Review and publication of the toolkit based on the feedback received

RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONG TERM BENEFITS
To build up a network where different organisations working with the target group (schools, refugee centres, community centres, local authorities,etc.), within each participating country or from different countries, work together for:
– sharing good practices with respect of the integration of new migrants
– develop new pathways in order to find tools to face the challenges posed by the displacement of millions of people
– Educating the target group on the opportunities and threats posed by the use of social media

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 57225 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kairos Europe Limited & Country: UK

Project Partners

• ABROAD Consulting Ltd & Co. KG
• Itaka training
• Sirri Yircali Anadolu Lisesi
• Associació Empresarial L’alqueria Projectes Educatius
• INTEGRATION FOR ALLA